Clipped Wings
by JayTheBird
Summary: Not every mission the Titans do, goes without a hitch. Sometimes one of them gets hurt. Badly. Rated T for nature of the mission, severe injury and topics that might not be suitable for a younger audience. Beast Boy centric with p.o.v. from the entire team. Slight BBRae, could be read as friendship/familial though. Constructive criticism is much appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Beast Boy

Just to get the record straight, this wasn't his idea. It was Robin who told him and Cyborg to get on the plane and make sure it wouldn't touch down in Metropolis. It was Cyborg who told him the only way to stop the plane from ever getting there, with the very dangerous chemicals that are stored in the back, was by taking over control from the inside out. Really, if anything, he is doing exactly as he is told.

But to get back to the beginning. A week or two ago Johnny Rancid got away with a shipment of Hydrazoic Acid. Yes, they are still terribly ashamed to have lost a battle to Rancid, alright? But in their defence, the guy probably had help, because soon Robin figured out the shipment ended up with Chang. From then on, the stuff had still been diluted, so not that dangerous, but Chang made sure they evaporated the water, leaving the highly explosive, dangerous substance in a tank at freezing temperatures so it wouldn't explode (or so Cy told him).

From there on, they finally tracked the now very dangerous shipment down to the airport, where it was loaded into an auto-piloted cargo plane that was supposed to deliver perishable goods. Instead it contains Hydrazoic Acid, has the coordinates set on the new shopping mall of Metropolis (not the airport) and Beast Boy suddenly finds himself trying to stop what can probably be described as a terrorist attack.

So yeah, maybe he didn't think this through entirely, but at least he accomplished this part of the mission. He seriously hopes Cyborg can handle the suicidal maniac that stayed on the plane to make sure their plane wouldn't be taken down by superhero teens before it could reach its goal.

"Alright, BB," he murmurs to himself. "Just take the auto-pilot off and land this thing. It doesn't matter it looks ten times less advanced than the T-sub. That must make it easier to handle right? This tech is primitive compared to what Cy can cook up. Same with the T-car. Okay well, I kinda crashed the T-car, but that's besides the point. I can land this. I gotta."

And he really does. Right now, they're flying over nothing but rocky steppes, which are, most importantly, uninhabitable. If he can get the plane to land here, no citizens will be endangered. Still, this isn't how it was supposed to be going.

Robin, Star and Raven went to Metropolis, Robin claiming that he and the girls were the best suitable to evacuate the city as fast as possible. It made sense at the time, because Robin is really good at telling people what to do, Raven is really good at scaring people into doing what she wants them to do, and both girls are best in arial support, especially long-ranged fighting, in case he and Cyborg are going to blow this.

So he and Cy were sent up with the plane, where Cyborg was supposed to land the plane and he was supposed to take care of the distraction and to get Cy out of the plane if necessary. But plans are plans for a reason, they never work out, and now he's here playing around with an actual, real-life plane while his best friend might be fighting for his life with dangerous explosives in the cargo-hold of that same plane.

Deep breath in- deep breath out. And now press the button. At first nothing happens. The plane stays in the air, following the same trajectory, but after a couple of moments, ten things happen all at once.

There's a sudden jerk towards the left, catching Beast Boy by surprise. From behind, he hears the fight between the bad guy and his best friend coming closer, almost behind him, and before he even has the time to look around, finding his bearings, he is hit in the head.

He isn't knocked out, but he doesn't completely understand what is going on anymore either. He isn't in the pilot seat anymore, he's in the air. Should he have worn his seat-belt? Probably.

Then, a loud noise, wind rushing in his ear. He feels a hand on his arm, not robotic, and panics. He hits around himself, still incredibly dizzy, and trips. And the wind keeps howling and howling and he wonders how that's even possible because did someone open a window? In a plane? Even he knows that's incredibly stupid, and probably impossible, because it would cause the air-pressure to drop and God, he's dizzy.

When he manages to open his eyes again, he's on the floor. He thinks he sees Cyborg a little ways from him, with a strange contraption over his mouth and nose (oxygen mask, his mind supplies a little later), and the bad guy hanging over his shoulder, probably unconscious. Did they do it? Did they win?

Before he can ask, the plane takes another sharp turn sideways. Are they going down? Before he can find his bearings, he's falling backwards, head smacking against a sharp edge and everything goes dark.

When he comes to moments later, the wind is rushing past his ears. It isn't howling anymore, but the sound is still deafening. Wind whips past his face, pulling at his hair, and forcing him down, down, down. He's falling. He's falling out of the plane.

He gets a glimpse of what is below him, and already knows. It's too late. Too late to change into a bird and catch himself. He's going too fast, his wings would break. Too late to change into a small creature, slow his speed due to his smaller mass, and then later catching himself with wings. He's too close to the ground already. Even an insect form wouldn't simply bounce off of the ground at this speed.

And that takes out his last resort, turning into a falcon, as well. He isn't skilled enough with that form yet, can't make the sharp turns and twists a full adult falcon is capable of, and can't catch himself in a dive without grievously hurting himself and, most likely, killing himself.

Lucky for him, his instincts are sharp, finely tuned, and are now going to save his life. He only needs a fraction of a second to make up his mind. Option one it is, being injured always wins it over being dead. He transforms into an albatros, positions himself just right, and unfolds his wings.

A tortured bird's scream echoes through the canyons.

* * *

The first thing he notices when he wakes up is pain. Pain in his arms, pain in his legs and pain in his head. The second thing he notices is that he is humanoid again. That means he must have blacked out again, because he always morphs back when unconscious.

Anything else doesn't register, the pain so encompassing that it takes over all his senses. But if he focuses, he can feel other sensations, like the dirt and stone underneath his broken body, and the grit biting into his cheek. He's face-down, he figures. He doesn't open his eyes to check, he doesn't dare to.

He just survived a free-fall from a plane. It's insane, it's impossible, and yet the mind-numbing pain is all the proof he needs to know that he did it. He puts that thought on repeat and runs with it. I did it, I'm alive, I did it, I'm alive, I did it, I'm alive.

He doesn't know how long he has been repeating that to himself, but considering his condition, it can't have been that long. After all, even though he did do it, even though he is still alive, how is he going to make sure to stay that way for much longer? He doesn't even dare to take in more than shallow breaths, let alone move any of his limbs.

He's startled out of his thoughts by a hand on his back. His lower back, away from his shoulders and throbbing arms. It's a gentle pressure, light, but there, and it's the first thing he's able to focus on, really focus on, besides the pain.

"Man, BB, please tell me you're alive."

He manages a groan, which means basically the same if you ask him. Corpses don't groan. He just wishes he could somehow tell Cyborg how happy and relieved he is that he's here.

The hand is taken away from his back, and focusing gets hard again. Cy rambles a mile a minute, and with the pain attacking him from all sides, the words can't register. He groans another time, though it sounds more like a whimper to him. It serves his purpose though, because it catches his friend's attention.

"Beast Boy? You with me, buddy?"

And now he opens his eyes. Cyborg's face is only half a meter away from his, blocking the harsh sun from Beast Boy's eyes. Right. Now that he thinks of it, his skin does feel like it's burning. Burning in a different way the scrapes and cuts on his body are burning. He forgot that he is basically in a desert landscape.

"'M here, I'm here," he gets out, his throat dry and painful. He must've screamed when he fell. The throbbing in the rest of his body is slowly abating. It's not stopping, but the intensity of it dulls. He gets to think at least, and he can respond to Cyborg's question. He's not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Is he getting over the shock of the pain? Or is shock exactly what's praying on him now? He's pretty sure that's not good with a concussion.

"Alright, B, just lay really still, okay? You're hurt good. I'm gonna go call the others, and make sure they send Raven here. She'll fix you right up and get you out of here."

If he could focus, he might've heard the worry in Cyborg's voice, but in his current condition he doesn't. He swallows thickly, and murmurs a 'yeah', telling himself he's going to be just fine. Raven will heal him and get rid of his pain. Well, most of it. She doesn't do concussions. But the other pain, the worst pain, will be gone soon. He lets himself close his eyes again, telling himself he can't go to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Cyborg

**I want to thank everyone who folowed and favourited this story. I´m happy to hereby post the next chapter. **

**Criticism, compliments, and tips are always welcomed. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans, just the story which I write for entertainment only.**

* * *

"Cyborg to Robin," Cy speaks into his communicator. "Robin we got an emergency."

Robin's face comes onto the screen, worry pinching his forehead.

"What happened? What's the location of the plane?"

Cyborg sighs, trying to keep his voice level. He stops himself from taking another glance at Beast Boy. When he found the changeling, he looked so bad he thought he was already dead. To have found him alive calmed Cyborg down some, but only a little. How are they going to fix four broken limbs? In the middle of nowhere? Let alone all of the internal damage the kid might be suffering right now.

"It crashed, about 75 kilometers from my location. I can see it burning. I'm pretty sure the cargo exploded. I got the lackey out with a parachute. He's tied up. I left him in a cave with a tracker for the police. Idiot pulled out the door of the plane at the same moment BB turned off the auto-pilot. He was definitely on a suicide mission."

He sighs another time, a headache coming up. If it's from the stress or the heat, he isn't sure.

"Look, Rob, B fell out. The guy hit him in the head and he was all woozy when he came out of the cockpit. The plane dove sideways and B went right outta the door."

Robin is silent for a moment, waiting patiently for Cyborg to finish the report. When he realises nothing more comes, he starts a series of questions.

"And Beast Boy? Is he the emergency? How'd he get to the ground?"

"That's why I'm calling, Rob. We need Raven here now. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but he managed to break both arms and legs on his way down. One open fracture on his left arm. Pretty sure he dislocated both shoulders too, but I can't really move him to check him over. It's really bad, man. He hit his head another time when he flew out of the door. If he falls asleep-

"Hey, hey!"

Only at that moment Cyborg dares to take another glance at Beast Boy, and sees both eyes closed. He gently taps the boy's cheek, trying to get him to open his eyes without aggravating any wounds. When Beast Boy's eyes don't open, he sighs inwardly, and presses a finger onto one of the larger, more serious cuts, right on his temple.

"Ah.. AH!"

The small sounds of pain are like daggers to Cyborg's gentle heart, but he knows that if he doesn't get Beast Boy conscious now, he might not ever get to see his best friend awake again.

"Eyes open, B," he says sternly, ignoring the blood on his finger or he might throw up. Luckily, green eyes meet his own, and for his own sake more than Beast Boy's, he gives a reassuring smile.

"Stay awake, you're concussed," he tells the kid, noticing that Beast Boy's eyes are at least focusing on him, and seem relatively clear.

"I know," he moans, and Cyborg can't help but grin. That's more like Beast Boy, even though the whining is probably out of real pain, not annoyance. Before he can take BB up into some light-hearted banter, to try and keep him awake and distracted, a huge, black bird comes flying over.

Raven appears out of the bird, created by her recognizable, black magic, and moves straight over to where Beast Boy and Cyborg are. The moment she kneels in Beast Boy's eye sight, he smiles.

"Hey Rae."

"Hi," she tells him distractedly, turning around to face cyborg only after a moment, face blank as ever, but a dangerous edge to her voice.

"You know I can't treat this. His bones aren't set. If I use my powers now he'll never walk again."

Cyborg winces, and sees B's right ear press flat against his head. Raven must have noticed too, because she calms slightly. She and Beast Boy might not always see eye-to-eye, but the demoness cares about the changeling just as much as she cares for the rest of the team. They don't like to see one another hurt.

And Raven especially has a hard time seeing her teammates hurt. With her powers she's supposed to be able to take it all away from them, but sometimes she can't. She can't heal concussions. Brains are too complicated for her to fully grasp and mess with. She leaves most head injuries to doctors and Cyborg.

Then there is the problem with broken bones. Raven's powers don't heal per se, they actually only speed up the healing process. With smaller cuts and skin-deep wounds, she can speed it up so fast that it actually seems like she completely healed the injuries. Broken bones are trickier. Either the bones are aligned just right, or she will only cause more damage than she heals. She told her teammates that after Robin broke his wrist.

"I'll take him home, but I can't take you both right now. Not at this distance. Robin and Starfire are onto your coordinates, they should be here soon."

Cyborg nods. Not the best-case scenario. He had really hoped Raven could do more here, but he supposes that if they get him out of the sun quickly, and can get him on an IV, B should be relatively alright till the entire team can get back to the tower to set his bones. The moment they have the concussion under control, and Raven can start the healing, Beast Boy might make it out of this mess with no lasting damage.

"Alright. The moment you get him home, I need you to turn him around. I can't work on him when he's face-down. Don't move his arms and legs too much though. Might make it all worse. When you got him on a bed, get an IV in first. Then the monitors. Check his oxygen intake and his heart rate. I think he's going to go into shock really soon."

He's actually pretty sure the first symptoms have already showcased, but without really knowing how the heat is affecting the kid right now, he can't tell if the symptoms are actually shock or dehydration. In any case, it's bad, especially combined with the concussion.

Raven has been paying rapt attention during Cyborg's explanation. All the while, her hand lies on Beast Boy's forehead, glowing softly. Cyborg notices how most of the scrapes, cuts, bruises and road-rash start to disappear from the green skin. The oldest is glad Raven can at least do something to relieveBeast Boy's pain, even though the changeling might not really feel the difference at the moment.

"Alright," Raven says, finishing up the healing. "See you soon."

"Yeah," Cyborg answers lamely.

"Take care of him," he murmurs later, as he watches the black bird disappear from view. "Please B, please be okay."

* * *

**If you enjoy this story, please leave a review. I have a couple of more chapters planned, but am stuck on the chapters I want to write in Robin´s and Starfire´s p.o.v. If anyone wants to help, please drop a PM so I can contact you. **

**See you guys next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Raven

**I want to thank everyone who followed and favourited this story. I´m happy to hereby post the next chapter. **

**Criticism, compliments, and tips are always welcomed. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans, just the story which I write for entertainment only.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Raven

The moment they enter the tower, Raven keeps Beast Boy in a firm, magical grasp. She locks his limbs in the same position they were in when he was still laying on the ground, and keeps his head up for him. She is pretty sure that he might be either too weak or too disoriented from the trip to keep it up himself.

"Beast Boy," she inquires, hoping the changeling managed to stay awake.

A whimper is her reply. And then a stronger sound, a moan of sorts, relaying his anguish. Raven feels his fear. He knows more pain will come. He must've heard all Cyborg has said to Raven, about how they were going to have to set his bones. He knows he'll hurt worse before he will get any better.

But at least Raven can quell his worries for just now.

"I've got you, Garfield," she tells him, not even aware she just called him by his birth name. "I'll turn you around in the air. You won't feel a thing, I promise. Then I'll put you on the big bed. We'll go from there."

One of their infirmary beds is longer and a lot broader. It is meant for Cyborg, who needs a stronger and larger bed to support him when he is injured (not broken) and needs to spend some time in the infirmary to recuperate. On Cyborg's bed Beast Boy can remain splayed out and still have all his limbs supported.

"Close your eyes for a moment," Raven advises. Beast Boy will probably get sick at some point, considering the concussion he sports and the overall trauma. However, she'd like to have it later rather than sooner, and wants to keep the changeling from getting motion sickness.

Slowly she turns her teammate around in the air. She focuses on the injured limbs most, keeping them as level as she can. Still there are barely suppressed whimpers coming from the changeling, and it worries Raven greatly. How long will he be able to stay awake?

The moment Beast Boy is floating on his back, Raven urges him to open his eyes. She moves him over to the larger bed, and places him down gently.

She takes a moment to grab a blanket and folds it out over the injured boy. Again she has to tell him firmly to keep his eyes open. At least with all the sounds of pain he makes, she is sure Beast Boy is somewhat conscious, so she doesn't have to reprimand him every time he oh so slowly blinks, looking at her with glazed-over, half-lidded eyes.

Calmly she prepares the IV, making sure she pays full attention to her task and doing it correctly. Then she moves the stand over, picking Beast Boy's left side. With his head moved over the other way, at least he won't have to look at the needle entering his skin. Beast Boy hates needles.

She rubs his hand with her thumb, after making sure neither his hand, wrist or fingers are broken. The hand is swelling though, probably due to the extensive trauma on the rest of his arm. The open fracture looks especially nasty.

She quickly swabs his hand with alcohol, disinfecting the area. Then she lines up the needle.

"Small pinch," she murmurs, hopefully in a comforting tone. Without the rest of the Titans here, she knows it is up to her to make Beast Boy feel safe, and as comfortable as possible.

Gentle, caring touches have for the longest time been strange to her, but with her friend now so terribly injured, that doesn't mean she isn't capable of giving them. Especially to Beast Boy, who was the very first person, aside from her mother perhaps, who has hugged her. She owes him this.

Besides a high-pitched whine, she doesn't get any other protests from Beast Boy when she slides the needle into his skin. Usually they have to hold him down with at least three of them the moment a needle comes close. And the shouting and the begging… he would be really scared.

Raven knows that fear is still there. It is just that Beast Boy doesn't have the energy, or maybe even the presence of mind, to do much more than weakly sound out his protest.

She makes quick work of taping the needle in place and attaching the IV line. At least the dehydration is now being taken care of.

When she turns on Cyborg's systems, they immediately pick up on Beast Boy's heartbeat, breathing and blood pressure. They must've still been set to search for Beast Boy's vitals. Ever since the Beast incident, no one has been in need of this kind of medical treatment.

She quickly clears her head, focussing on the readings on the screen. No one likes to be reminded of Beast Boy's brawl with Adonis, the fights between him and the rest of the team afterwards, and especially not the physical fights between them and the Beast. Raven isn't quite sure if the bond between Beast Boy and Robin will ever be what it was again.

Without anything else to do, she sits down next to the green boy, who desperately tries to hold onto consciousness. His pulse is rapid, his breathing a little shallow, but for now he is out of life-threatening danger. She wants to give him some pain relief, but she isn't sure if she should. Cyborg hadn't mentioned anything, and pain relief strong enough to actually make a difference now probably will make the boy sleepy.

Her hand runs through his hair for the second time that day, though this time there is nothing for her to heal. She just tries to bring him a little comfort, despite how unsure she is. From interactions between Beast Boy and Cyborg she knows that the shapeshifter likes to be touched. But does he like her touches too?

"Rae?"

She hums a response, not taking her hand off of his head when her eyes meet his pain-filled ones. When he smiles at her, the way only Beast Boy can smile, she returns the affection with a quick kiss to his forehead.

"Hold on a little longer. Cyborg will be here soon."

Again she is unsure of how helpful she is being, and if her affections are appreciated. But if there's one thing Beast Boy taught her, it is that sometimes you need to act on your instincts.

Something inside her tells her that she is doing the right thing. So she continues to murmur sweet nothings into Beast Boy's ear, prompting responses from him, and never ceasing the constant petting of his head.

At some point she has to hold his upper body up, and help him throw up into the tub that she had already grabbed for the occasion. Beast Boy is in agony the whole time through it, but calms when Raven resumes the whispering and petting.

When their intimate moment is interrupted by three worried, over-protective teammates, Raven second emotion, besides the obvious relief, is disappointment that their moment together couldn't last a little longer.

* * *

**I hope I have done Raven justice. I love her character, and I thought it was interesting to try and explore a new side of her in this story. **

**Please leave your thoughts down below, it really helps me to become a better writer. All your reviews are greatly appreciated. **

**See you guys!**

**Jay**


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